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Posted on 04/14/2003 7:50:47 AM PDT by EternalHope
HK Won't Rule Out Seeking China's Help Against SARS 1 hour, 24 minutes ago Add Science - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Tan Ee Lyn
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's hospital chief said on Monday he would not rule out asking Beijing to send doctors to the territory to help fight a deadly respiratory disease as the number of new infections climbed.
Hong Kong said seven more people had died from the disease, the highest number reported in a day since its outbreak erupted early in March.
Forty more have been infected, including four health care workers, bringing the total to 1,190, the government said.
"We hope to use our own people first. But we don't rule out that we may have to ask others (mainland Chinese doctors) to help if our situation worsens. Actually we are buying a lot of things like masks and surgical gowns from mainland China," Hospital Authority Chairman Leong Che-hong told reporters.
Leong's comments come just days after Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa told Chinese President Hu Jintao the territory has not been able to bring the disease under effective control, although it now knows more about it.
Doctors and nurses say the territory's health care system may collapse if more medical staff are infected. Health experts have said there are no longer enough intensive care beds nor isolation wards, sparking fears of more infections.
Hu told Tung in southern China last week that Beijing was ready to offer medical assistance to Hong Kong if needed, a statement from the Hong Kong government said. It would not say if Tung asked for any specific help.
The former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has been the worst hit by the disease after mainland China, where the disease originated.
Hu's low-profile visit to Guangdong province bordering Hong Kong was the strongest indication yet of how seriously Chinese leaders view the worsening health crisis in Hong Kong.
China has been sharply criticized for being too slow to report its outbreak, which began in November. The flu-like disease, which deteriorates rapidly into pneumonia for many Hong Kong victims, has been carried by travelers to about 20 countries, infecting more than 3,300 people and killing 144.
HEAVIER DOSAGES
In a bid to cut the number of cases swamping intensive care units, a senior health official told lawmakers doctors will begin administering large doses of the antiviral drug ribavirin and steroids to infected patients as early as possible.
Heavy dosages of ribavirin were formerly reserved mainly for patients who were severely ill, because of its side-effects.
"Even if they have very light symptoms, we will go full scale on the treatment from now, but the drugs are no small matter. The ribavirin has serious side effects on the heart and liver. And the steroids are used in large dosages," Hospital Authority official Ko Wing-man said.
Authorities have finalized plans to check the temperature of every passenger departing from the airport, to check the disease.
"We are ready, we are only waiting for the green light from the Department of Health," an airport spokeswoman said.
The government has not ruled out the same measures for incoming passengers at a later stage.
Universities in Hong Kong reopened on Monday after having been shut for two weeks to try to break the infection cycle of the virus, which has an incubation period of up to a week.
But at the Chinese University, where five were infected, most remained cautious and went to class in surgical masks.
All other Hong Kong schools have been shut until April 21. The government has not indicated if it will extend the closure.
Hong Kong no longer has enough intensive care beds or isolation wards.
Will start using large doses of ribavirin and steroids as early as possible, in spite of potentially severe side effects on the heart and liver.
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This table is just for Hong Kong. The bogus numbers for China are not included.
Of course. But Hong Kong is administered separately, and has its own "Chief Executive". Hong Kong is much more western, and its press is much more free, than elsewhere in China.
The reported numbers for SARS in Hong Kong and China are consistently reported separately. The numbers from China are transparently bogus. I have not seen anything casting doubt on the Hong Kong numbers.
Hong Kong has been much more open, and much more cooperative, than the rest of China throughout this whole ordeal. To lump them together may be technically correct, but would actually be quite misleading.
That said, I am sure the government of China could tell Hong Kong to jump, and the government of Hong Kong would say "How high?" Would Beijing tell Hong Kong to put the lid on?
Even China can not successfuly minimize the problem forever. There is simply too much contact between China and the rest of the world to keep a story of this magnitude under wraps. They are still trying to manage the story as a public relations matter, but the damage only gets worse as their credibility continues to plummet.
SARS is already loose on the world, and since we haven't (and probably can't) stop international travel, it's going to continue to spread.
We can slow the spread of it. That's important, because with good medical treatment, the fatality rate is manageable. It's far too high, but it's not like smallpox or the Black Death of the Middle Ages.
As long as we keep the spread slow, hospitals can keep up with it. If millions come down with it all at the same time, all bets are off.
It's not the flu at all, of course. It's a different virus that causes many of the same symptoms. In Hong Kong, it's sent over 20% of the people who caught it into the intensive care units of the hospitals. No flu does that.
I think that indicates that at least 20% would probably die without serious medical intervention.
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